This invention relates to a new and useful mailing instrument that enables the user to select from a multiplicity of addressing schemes and postage schemes provided on a single mailing instrument. More specifically the mailing instrument enables the sender to select one each of the more than one addressee, addressor and postage fields provided on the mailing instrument surfaces. The sender may assemble a mailing instrument having a combination of various pre-printed or blank address and postage fields that allow the same mailing instrument to be used for more than one mailing purpose; i.e. return payment to a vender by selecting the pre-printed addressee field or use for personal mail by selecting the blank addressee field.
Currently, many companies send their customers an empty self-addressed reply envelope for the collection of money owed by the customer. A bill or statement is often sent to the customer with the reply envelope. In many cases the addressee prefers to accept timely payments at one address and late payments at another address. In a second example, a company moving its office has a need for a reply envelope that can be sent to one address before the moving date and to another address after the moving date. For conservation and ecological purposes, it would be desirable for a reply envelope to have a preprinted addressee field showing the mailing address of the company and an alternative blank addressee field. If the end user has no need to use the envelope for sending a response to the company then he/she has available an envelope for personal use. Thus conservation and ecological considerations favor the inventive mailing instrument. There is a need for a single reply envelope that provides alternative address fields for return to one or the other of two addressee address fields and that provides for selection of one or the other of two addressor address fields, which are the usual return address blocks on an envelope.
Along the same lines, some companies and many non-profit organizations also employ reply envelopes that have a printed postage field on a Business Reply Envelope (BRE). A BRE is generally sent by an individual, a company or other organizational entity in order to solicit a response, contribution or order. The BRE is often part of a mass mailing that may include a catalog for material, an order form, a request for contribution, or other correspondence. The specification for an approved BRE is given by the U.S. Postal Service. A company or entity must obtain a permit for the use of Business Reply Mail thus becoming a permit holder; the permit number appears directly under the text "BUSINESS REPLY MAIL" on the envelope. The purpose of the Business Reply Envelope is to provide a postage paid method of response for a respondee through the mail. With Business Reply Mail, the cost of the postage is paid for by the permit holder upon receipt of the mail. Entities using a business reply envelope (BRE) having printed postage thereon pay a per item postage fee substantially above the first class rate that is charged for an identical mail item bearing a conventional stamp. These entities often request that their customers save them postage fees by placing a stamp in the printed postage field. Unfortunately the placement of a stamp in the printed postage field on the BRE only reduces the postage fee charged to the entity rather than eliminating the fee charged to the entity. The BRE bearing a conventional postage stamp is treated by the Post Office as a standard business reply mail item despite the placement of a conventional stamp on the mail item; this is due to the exposure of the BRE printed postage indicia appearing on the face of the mail item which is not completely covered by the postage stamp. After the entity has received the BRE bearing a postage stamp and made full payment of the BRE postage rate, the permit holder can receive a credit for a portion of the postage amount placed on the reply envelope by the respondee; this credit is substantially less than the postage fee charged to the permit holder by the Post Office.
Thus, there is also an additional need for an envelope that could be used either as a conventional non-Business Reply Envelope or as a U.S. Postal Service approved Business Reply Envelope. This would give the sender an option to either reply with or without supplying the necessary conventional postage. In addition, the permit holder would not have to pay any postage fee should the respondee elect to apply sufficient conventional postage to the inventive envelope. Further, the permit holder will save time since he/she will not have to request a postage credit from the Post Office. Prior to the invention of the subject envelope a BRE permit holder would have to provide two envelopes: one BRE and the other a conventionally printed envelope. The respondee could then choose which to send; the other being discarded. Accordingly, there is a strong need for one reply envelope having both an indicia for BRE use and an overlying sheet or face hiding the BRE indicia. The overlying sheet or face provides a second or alternative postage field for receipt of a conventional postage stamp.
There is also a need for a single mailing instrument which fulfills the above multiple needs and enjoys simple manufacture and use. Since many self-addressed reply envelopes are mass mailed by the addressee, the costs related to the envelope's manufacture, structure and printing should be minimized.
The prior art shows no available mailing instrument that solves the above problems faced by parties using standard reply and business reply mailing instruments.
The prior art shows that there has been development of several different styles of envelopes and mailing instruments providing more than one address field and postage field. These envelopes however have been for use as two way envelopes which enable the recipient of the envelope to respond to the sender using the same envelope. The prior art envelopes generally are described as having two addressee or addressor fields; two postage fields; or some combination of the two.
A first example in the prior art shows an envelope that provides two sets of address and postage field combinations. This prior art however does not provide separate address field and postage field schemes which are selectable individually. That is, the address and postage field schemes provided in the prior art must be selected as one of two alternate sets of an addressee, addressor and postage combinations. Additionally the prior art discloses an envelope that has the disadvantage of being a different size depending upon the address and postage scheme selected by the user. Also because this prior art envelope was designed specifically for two-way use the adhesive fields used to seal the envelope for one of the address/postage field combinations is insubstantial and may not provide adequate sealing to keep the envelope from coming open during mailing.
Another example in the prior art shows an envelope that provides multiple address fields and postage fields on one envelope through an unconventional sealing arrangement. This prior art envelope provides a second postage field by tucking the closing flap inside the envelope. This closing scheme is less advantageous than the applicant's two flap scheme in as much as it may prove difficult to activate the adhesive and tuck the closing flap inside of the envelope so that the envelope is sealed properly in the prior art scheme. The tucked in arrangement of the envelope also has an unconventional look which may be unacceptable to some users. In addition the alternate addressee field on the prior art envelope cannot be utilized if the correspondence in the envelope blocks the window opening in the front of the envelope.
Still another example in the prior art shows an envelope having a removable flap for use as an advertising surface. This envelope resembles the applicants invention only in as much that it shows an envelope having a flap attached to each of the two envelope opening edges. This prior art envelope does not show a multiple addressing or postaging scheme. In addition the advertising flap does not have an adhesive surface for sealing the flap to the envelope to close it.
The above noted designs fail to meet the needs of those companies, organizations, individuals and the like who wish to employ a single reply envelope having optional addressee, addressor and postage fields. In sum, prior envelopes exhibit two-way or bi-directional capability as is evident from an examination of the structural features in the above designs. The present invention has emerged as a solution to a different problem, that of a one-way multi-destination or multi-postage scheme instrument having novel structural features.